Last Week Tonight with John Oliver
Trump and the Press
TV Flash files “Trump and the Press” as hour 332 of 371 in the TV Flash guide — Last Week Tonight with John Oliver (2014–present) on HBO, season 12, episode 12, aired 2025-05-18, 41 min.
From the desk
How this hour is filed
This leaf is S12E12: listed hour 332 of 371 in the Last Week Tonight with John Oliver guide, hour 12 of 30 in season 12. It aired 2025-05-18 (41 min). The listed hour before it is “Alliance Defending Freedom” (S12E11). Next is “Air Traffic Control” (S12E13).
Catalog log
Broadcast listing — not a TV Flash recap.
John Oliver discusses how Donald Trump is attempting to reshape coverage of him in the press, how he's using his power to threaten media outlets he doesn't agree with, why this signals a slide toward authoritarianism for the U.S., and whether or not you guys can also see this twink we're pretty sure is a ghost. Seriously. We are so scared.
Viewer FAQ
Where does Trump and the Press sit in the Last Week Tonight with John Oliver guide?
S12E12 is listed hour 332 of 371 — hour 12 of 30 in season 12, season 12 episode 12.
When did Last Week Tonight with John Oliver S12E12 air?
Trump and the Press aired 2025-05-18 and is listed at 41 minutes.
Do I need to watch every week in order?
Each episode is a topical deep dive, not a serial plot. Jump at a subject you care about; net-neutrality-era segments are the origin myth of the civic-homework clip.
In the series
Why this series still plays
John Oliver turned late-night into a research department with punchlines: twenty-minute deep dives on net neutrality, prisons, and whatever lobbyists hoped you would never google. Civic homework disguised as comedy — explainer satire that actually moved petitions, and a host who treats footnotes like setups.
Sunday night, and the group chat is doing homework. After *The Daily Show*, John Oliver's HBO late-night series debuted April 2014 with Tim Carvell and James Taylor in the engine room: twenty-minute deep dives on net neutrality, prisons, and whatever lobbyists hoped you would never google. Segments sparked real petitions and news cycles. Multiple Emmys for variety talk. Footnotes as setups. (Spoiler-free: the joke comes with a syllabus.) Lana can have the tuxedo. **The ship is the explainer, and the replies are…
Open the Last Week Tonight with John Oliver package · Season 12 hub
Filed against
- John Oliver as Host
John Oliver’s correspondent weather on The Daily Show with Jon Stewart made a fake newscast feel like a civic classroom, then Last Week Tonight turned the same research into twenty-minute deep dives — 2000s catalog Stewart era, 2010s…